Making New Home Selections
 

This is our first post and things are moving very quickly. My wife stopped by the Villages at the end of a business trip in early November and wound up buying a new lot in the Village of Fernadina. We had our first visit in April and knew right away this is where we want to live. We are visiting this week from Saturday thru Tuesday to make our house selections and start the building process. We are looking for any words of wisdom that will make the selection and building process go smoothly. Our house in Glen Mills, PA has been on the market since June so we are getting anxious to sell.

Welcome to TOTV :wave:

Stretch as much as you can afford. Take your time, ask lots of questions! The people are wonderful, not pushy and will go out of their way to make sure you are happy with your final choices. Enjoy the process!

Do you know what house you are buying? I would ask what others have done or would do if they could do it over.

We are building the Begoinia we liked the his and her closets, the slider off the lanai, the two car and cart garage, open floor plan. We are stretching all put one side of the house. For me... I went with as neutral as I could (no shades of yellow or green in anything) so I could go with any color and not clash. We have chosen tile throughout, on the diagonal and will add area rugs in the rooms.

I found the process to be fun! Enjoy!

Making New Home Selections
 

Thanks for the feedback. We have been reading that the process is well organized and fun. We are building a Lantana with a couple of stretches. We wanted the nook in the rear since we are building on a golf course.

We have built 2 previous houses and have come away from the selection process with sticker shock after upgrading flooring, counters, lights, etc. How did that process go with you?

First... What lot are you on? We are on Evinston Court log #26.

I was very surprised! I thought it would cost me more then it did. They don't have prices so you pick what you want. Now.. If you want to know prices, they will tell you. We wanted a shower instead of the bath tub in the guest bath. In order to do that we had to extended the whole side of the house 2' giving us the shower, 2' extra closet in both bedrooms, extra room in both bedrooms and the living room and 2' extra vanity in the bathroom. The whole thing for $8000. I thought it was a bargain! We extended the front room to get a closet 3' and the lanai 4.4'. I went with the oil brushed bronze throughout the house. I chose to go with the Quartz instead of the Granite. I've heard they go back and forth in price. I didn't ask which was less or more. I just knew that was what I wanted.

I had outlets added in all the closets and additional in the garage. I had an additional water bib added in the lanai as we are going to have a birdcage and I wanted to be able to wash it down. I had all lighting offered in the kitchen.

The only thing I backed off of was my first choice in light fixtures. When she told me on fixture was $800 MORE then the most expensive fixture.... I'm pretty sure I can buy it at Lowes a lot less and replace all of them!

Three words...golf cart garage! You'll find you really need it.

Stretch, stretch, stretch. Anywhere and everywhere you can. You can never have too many recepticles either. Under cabinet lights. We just bought a Lily and it did not have under cabinet lights. I spent a week adding them and that was a PITA. If you can and have the room, make the golf cart garage a full car garage, that will make it a 3 car garage. Then you can park 2 golf carts in there easily. Another thing I have done is add lights to the ceiling fans. I don't know if that is an option or not, but if you can have it done while they're building, it will be better. They're not expensive and it's not hard, but if you can't do it yourself, you might be better off to have it done while under construction. Good luck selling your home in PA and welcome to TOTV and TV.

Greg,

I agree on the lights in the ceiling fans. They told us the fans were what they are, so the lights will have to be added later. I agree and we will add them as well.

I guess this ain't Burger King, where you can have it your way.

Making New Home Selections
 

Thanks again for all of the great input. We are building on Lot 12 on Killington Loop in Fernadina on the Bonifay Golf Course (last 9 holes).

We are definitely going with the Golf Cart Garage and a 2' stretch in the garage and living area. We are moving from a large house with a full basement so I am concerned about having enough storage space.

We will be adding extra outlets and the under counter lighting. I can handle the ceiling fan lights myself.

Can anyone comment on the building process? Do they really complete a house in 75 days?

Do you have a western facing lanai? I believe you do if you are on the golf course. We do also and are trying to figure out what to do to help with the sun shinning directly on to the lanai. Have you thought about what you are going to do?

Yes... They REALLY build in 75 days and pride themselves on NEVER being late! They will give you your date when you sign your paperwork!

New home options
 

We're coming down in April to choose our lot (as long as we have a year to build)

Will TV wire your house for a sound system and televisions?
Can you get a 3rd party to do it during construction? I know the answer but I just had to ask...

I want to put all the equipment in say a third bedroom walkin closet and use RF remotes to control everything. Guess I'll need a A/C duct in the walkin closet (Maybe we just need to remove the closet door and make it an open concept)

We like the Bridgeport but would like to square off the dining room and master bedroom in the back as in the case of the Holly model. Anybody doing that?

Greg,

Can you say a few words about the under-cabinet lighting project? Fixtures, wiring, etc.

Send PM if answer is too far off topic for this thread.

When you pick out your cabinets make sure you get the roll outs or you will be stuck with half shelves that are worthless. You will be surprised that the extras don't add up to that much in the long run. Good Luck and have fun!

We have undercabinet lights and over cabinet lights in our new home. I don't know if it is a choice because we didn't sit down and make choices. We didn't have time. We sold our designer home here and home in Cincy in thirty days and had to close and get out of both in thirty days and be at daughters wedding and grandsons graduation. We said...how much is this model on that lot and they told us and we said do it just like this model inside and left town.

We returned to town, got a rental and watched them build it. We are very satisfied.

Oh...and our house was completed in less time than the originally stated date as were many in this new village. You cannot close early unless you pay the change fee of $250. I have heard people grouse about this but they are really, really planned like that and a change is a snag in the machinery.

Sometimes people lose sight of just how many homes are being built here daily and how many closings there are here daily. It is UNREAL.